provenance
/ˈpɹɑ.və.nəns/noun, verb
provenance is spelled P-R-O-V-E-N-A-N-C-E: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, provenance means “Place or source of origin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of provenance is provenances.
How many letters and syllables are in provenance?
| Letters | 10: P-R-O-V-E-N-A-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.4 times per million words; the 23,835th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is provenance?
Provenance appears 1.4 times per million words in written English, the 23,835th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce provenance?
- UK /ˈpɹɒ.və.nəns/
- UK /ˈpɹɒ.vəˌnɒns/
- US /ˈpɹɑ.və.nəns/
Provenance has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-provenance.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of provenance
- provenances plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- provenancing participle, present
- provenanced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does provenance mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Place or source of origin.
Many supermarkets display the provenance of their food products.
- 2
The place and time of origin of some artifact or other object. See Usage notes below.
This spear is of Viking provenance.
- 3
The history of ownership of a work of art.
The picture is of royal provenance.
- 4
The copy history of a piece of data, or the intermediate pieces of data used to compute a final data element, as in a database record or web site (data provenance).
- 5
The execution history of computer processes which were used to compute a final piece of data (process provenance).
- 6
Background; history; place of origin.
verb
- 1
To establish the provenance of something
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Provenance in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Herkunft, Provenienz |
| Portuguese | procedência, proveniência |
| Spanish | procedencia, proveniencia |
| French | provenance |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does provenance come from?
Borrowed from French provenance (“origin”), from Middle French provenant, present participle of provenir (“come forth, arise”), from Latin provenio (“to come forth”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).